"Feeding" the front lawn

Maybe it's because of the dog. Perhaps it's the long, cold, snowy winter. Whatever the reason, our front lawn needs a little TLC (and I'm focusing on the front because the back is still in bad shape from various large-equipment assaults). I should have it core aerated at some point this year but I prefer to do that in the fall. So, I went down to my local feed store and got 100 lbs. of alfalfa pellets (I prefer pellets to alfalfa meal because the pellets have to be steamed to be formed - a process that has the added benefit of killing weed seeds). I don't ever tell the feeder's supply that I plan to use the feed on my lawn because there is a sort of strange and ongoing argument between the organic fertilizer folks and feed stores which pretty much boils down to the fertilizer peeps not wanting people to find out they can go down to the feed store and buy the raw materials for organic lawn fertilizer for somewhere between 10% and 20% of the price of a comparable amount of commercial organic fertilizer.

Anyway, I got home, dragged the (now ripped open at one end) bags of alfalfa pellets around the yard, further distributed them with a large rake, and watched Poppy eat a few mouthfuls. Now, it's time to wait for our forecast rain over the next several days, watch the pellets break down, and, in about 2 weeks (after the microbes have had a chance to process the organic nitrogen into a form usable by the plants) tada! green grass.

I'm a big fan of this method because it's imposssible to overfertilize (short of physically smothering the grass but that would take A LOT of alfalfa meal). In a few months I will "feed" again with some soybean meal or more alfalfa. Corn gluten meal is also popular because, in addition to adding nitrogen to the grass, it also works as a natural pre-emergent herbicide (meaning it prevents seed germination). I'm skipping the corn gluten meal because I think I might have some overseeding in my future (and I don't want to inhibit the grass seed from germinating) and the lawn butts up against the perennial border (where I like to encourage all the non-bindweed reseeding I can).

So, only $19 later, I've given the grass some nutrients, the dog a green (and safe) snack, and myself a little bit of exercise (without hurting my back).